User blog:MaleficiousVillain/New Orleans Mansion Backstory
I just wanted to post a backstory which I created for the original Haunted Mansion found in Disneyland, California. There are still a few parts which I havent completely figured out but this is my general backstory. I would also like to state that this ONLY applies to the Antellbaum Mansion but does draw some elements from other Haunted Mansions along with having connections to other Disney Park attractions. Stay Tuned for Updates to the story 'The Mansion' 'The Haunted Mansion' Name: Gracey Manor Address: 1313, Rue Esplenade, New Orleans, Louisiana Constructed: August 9th, 1771 PART I: The Gracey Curse 'The Raven' Name: The Raven of Whispering Glade ''' '''Life: 1326BC-1313BC Cause of Death: Fell to Death Thousands of years before the state of Louisiana was even settled, the forested swampland that would come to be known as "Whispering Glade", was nearly completely uninhabited by most species due to the swampland's dangerous terain of acidid quicksand-like mudpits which poisoned the waters and caused the soil to sink beneath feet. The only animal which came to live in the glade was a black raven which was abandonned as a chick and came to call the grounds home, however since no other creatures lived on the land, the Raven was forced to hunt outside of the glade. The Raven lived out most of it's adult life on the grounds until it died chasing a small bird through the forested area of the glade and it's wing got snared by a branch causing the Raven to plummet to it's death from the treetops. Being the first living creature to ever die in the glade, this was the first time that the Angel of Death ever visited the grounds. Upon reaching the grounds upon her pale white horse, the reaper of death had a vision of all the pain, black magic, evil and death which would come to by found within the Glade in centuries to come. Feeling like she needed to keep an eye on the grounds, Death chose to transform the deceased Raven into a kind of undead familiar as it was the only living creature to have spent it's entire mortal life on the grounds. The Raven became a spirit and a servant of the Angel of Death, with it having been given dark powers by the Grim Reaper which showed through the Raven now having glowing piercing red eyes. The Raven served it's mistress by watching over the grounds and it's inhabitants for so long that it eventually became incorporated into the folktales and mythologies of New Orleans when the glade was transformed into a cemetery and had catacombs built underneath of it, and even moreso when a former pirate captain had a grand mansion built on the burial grounds. 'Captain Gore' Name: Capitain Bartholomew Gideon Gorelieu '''changed to Captain Marcus David Gracey' '''Life: 1761-1836' Cause of Death: 'Poisoned Captain Bartholomew Gorelieu was a Caribbean pirate captain from the late 18th century who operated mainly off of Baratia Bay. Bartholomew was the captain of a former slave ship which he had named ''The Weeping Willow and he was mainly known under the name of "Captain Gore", a nickname he had earned due to his notorious reputation for murder and torture. Eventually Gorelieu had amassed such a fortune in blood money that he had a mansion built in the city of New Orleans in an area called the Whispering Glade ''which served as a cemetery for many of the people of New Orleans. Gore had the mansion built here because he intended on utilizing the flooded catacombs built under the cemetery, since he had reason to believe that it was the resting place of pirate captain known as The Jolly Roger, who was known for being a gifted Voodoo bokor when he was alive and after he was killed his skull was mounted in a secret location in New Orleans under the instructions of a Sea Witch as the Jolly Roger's soul was too powerful and dangerous even in death. Gore wanted to find the skull as he believed it could tell him the location of the lair of a long dead pirate crew of a pirate ship called ''The Wicked Wench who stole a massive treasure called "El Rescate del Rey" which Gore wanted to find before his rival in piracy, Jean Lafitte. Gore was however wrong about the location of the skull being in Whispering Glade and instead was located in La Bayou Bleu. Despite never finding the treasure, Gore did have a large family with his wife Priscilla Gracey (née Bender) and they would all live in relative wealth and power through pirate blood money. In his old age, after years of failing to find the skull of the Jolly Roger, Gore was killed by his eldest grandson Dorian who murdered his grandfather via a poison made from snake venom which he had purchased from a travelling Romani sorceress. So with Grandpa Marc now deceased, Dorian became the new Lord and Master of the Gracey Estate. '''Master Gracey Name: '''Dorian Yale Gracey '''Life: 1813-1854 Cause of Death: Buried Alive Dorian Gracey was the eldest of two sons born to Walther and Lillian Gracey. His parents had both died when he was a young boy when his mother strangled his father to death for having an affair behing her back and was then executed for her crime. Due to this Dorian and his brother Claude were largely raised by their grandparents Marc and Priscilla Gracey, the patriarch and matriarch of the Gracey Clan. As a young man, Dorian became highly involved in maintaining the family's illegal activity through a smuggling empire which he had built alongside his grandfather through the use of Marc's numerous contacts from a lifetime's worth of piracy. However behind his family's back, Dorian was having a secret affair with a romani woman named Eleanor Leota who he had met at a travelling circus but who Dorian dared not be openly dating as she was of Romani ethnicity and was a street performing clairvoyant. Together, Dorian and Eleanor plotted to murder Marc in order to make Dorian the new Master of the Gracey clan and in exchange for Leota's help she would move into Gracey Manor and completely provide for her under the guise of her being the family's clairvoyant. Dorian went through with murdering his grandfather with a snake-venom poison given to him be Eleanor who subsequently moved into Gracey Manor as planned with Dorian now acting as the head of the household and the new crimelord of Marc Gracey's smuggling esplenades. Despite their sucess, Dorian became highly superstitious due to him believing that he was being watched by a Raven on the manor's grounds which he came to hate so much that he named it "Lucifer" after the devil. In response to this, Eleanor caged the bird to try and appease Dorian's inner demons. Eventually, Eleanor became pregnant with Dorian's child and upon giving birth Dorian decided to name the child Lillian after his late-mother and make her middle name Priscilla after his grandmother who had died years earlier. Despite loving Lillian very much, Dorian refused to be known as Lillian's father as he believed it would damage his reputation and thus he never let her take part in Gracey Family events. Over the years Dorian and Eleanor became cold and distant to one another, something which started when Dorian decided to pursue romance outside of his secret lover, this lover came in the form of Eleanor's surrogate sister from the circus where she was raised, a beautiful tightrope walker named Sally Slater. Not long after meeting her, Daisy and Dorian got married however not too long after the wedding, Daisy decided to perform on a tightrope she set up in the swamp on the manor's grounds for her new family only for the rope to wither around and break, causing her to fall into the water and into the jaws of a wild aligator. After some time, evidence mysteriously arose regarding the poison that was used by Dorian to murder his grandfather but instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Dorian framed Eleanor as she was the one who brewed the potion. After "confessing", Eleanor was scheduled to be executed via guillotine but before her death she chose to curse the Gracey Clan which betrayed her so that ,"Every man and woman in the family would die a sudden and violent death" all except for Dorian who would be doomed to inhabit the mortal world for eternity as an undead and unfeeling animated corpse. By the time Dorian was an older man, Leota's curse had come true with Dorian's entire family dying of painful and unrelated causes. Eventually Dorian was left nearly completely alone with noone but his servants and his illegitimate daughter Lillian who was now a teenager. Depressed, alone, alcoholic, and unable to die Dorian's only wish was to be able to Rest in Peace. So one night he laid down in a coffin and ordered his beloved daughter Lillian to bury him alive in the Gracey Family Plot so that he could hopefully rest in peace with his now deceased loved ones. Although the thought of killing her own father devastated Lillian, Dorian told her not to mourn him as he would be happier dead then he ever was alive, and just like that, Master Gracey was laid to Rest. 'Madame Leota' Name: Eleanor Audrey Leota Cause of Death: Beheaded Eleanor Leota was born in Paris, France to a Romani witch/psychic named Madame Esmerelda Leota. Eleanor was the youngest of two daughters, both half-sisters who's fathers they never knew, with Eleanor's elder sister being named Oona Leota. When Eleanor was a girl, Oona plotted to get her family out of the way so that she could get her hands on their mother's spellbook which she desperately wanted for witchcraft. So one night, Oona "confessed" to the police that her mother was a thief and a murderer which resulted in the police of Paris searching for Esmerelda. However before Oona managed to get her hands on her panicked mother's spellbook, both she and her sister had vanished. Eleanor and Esmerelda had stowed away on a ship headed for Louisiana in America as at the time it was still owned by the French, and on the ship Esmerelda taught her daughter magic and left her the spellbook before dying of illness. Upon reaching the destination, Eleanor was left alone in the city of New Orleans with no money, food, or mother. Eventually Eleanor wound up being taken in by a Louisiana circus called "La Cirque des Contes" where she worked as both an endentured servant to the owners, and as a child psychic. When she was a teenager, Eleanor took up her mother's stage name of "Madame Leota" and she became a professional clairvoyant due to years of studying her mother's spellbook. When she became an adult, Leota fell in love with a wealthy heir named Dorian Gracey and the two became secret lovers. Dorian promised Eleanor that when he inherited the Gracey family fortune, he would have her move into his family's mansion so that they could be together. After some time, the two decided to take matters of inheritence into their own hands and Eleanor crafted a poison for Dorian to use on his grandfather so that he could inherit the family's wealth and estate. After the murder, Dorian became the new master of the Gracey clan and as promised he had Leota move into the family's mansion under the guise of her being the family's clairvoyant as Leota didn't want people to know they were romantically involved as she believed that it would make her seem like a gold digger. After having lived together for some time, Dorian and Eleanor had a daughter which Dorian named Lillian after his late-mother but refused to publically aknowledge that he was the father of due to Leota being a Romani woman and a former cicrus performer and due to this, Leota claimed that Lillian was a virgin birth. Eleanor herself never really cared for her daughter as she was a reminder of her weakness to lust, and due to this she typically only refered to her daughter as "Little Leota" as it was easier then remembering her true name. Over time, Eleanor and Dorian became distant and cold with one another, so when certain evidence regarding the poison used to kill Marc Gracey arose, Dorian chose to push all of the blame on Eleanor and since he was a wealthy caucasian man and this was the 19th century, the police took his word over Leota's and she was thus scheduled for execution via guillotine. Before her execution, Leota used her last words to curse the Gracey Clan so that every man and woman in the family would die of a sudden and violent death, all except for Dorian who she cursed to be trapped in the mortal world for eternity as an undead rotten corpse, and then the blade of the guillotine fell. 'The Tightrope Walker' Name: Sally "Daisy de la Cruz" Gracey 'née. 'Slater ' '''Cause of Death: '''Eaten Alive Sally Slater was abandonned as an infant at the travelling Louisiana circus, "''La Cirque de les Contes" where she was treated as an endentured servant and manual labourer for the circus. In her youth Sally's only friend was the orphaned Romani girl, Eleanor Leota who was treated like dirt by the circus owners due to them having decided that she would become the circus' "Gypsy Woman" as opposed to Sally who was trained quite harshly to become a beautiful, polite, and delicate tightrope walker for the circus' trapeze act. For this diference between the two each of the two girls secretly envied the other as Eleanor wished to be treated like a lady instead of a sideshow freak while Sally wished she wasn't forced into a life which she didn't chose for herself. Despite the envy between the two of them, they were the closest thing that each of them had to a family and they stuck together like sisters. As young adults, Sally became the circus' star performer under the stagename of "Daisy de la Cruz", a new name which she was persuaded into adopting as it sounded more fantastical and pretty then Sally Slater. Eleanor on the other hand became the circus' psychic and fortune teller under the stagename of Madame Leota. As the graceful tightrope walker of the circus, Sally was often barraded by suitors, gifts and flirts who idolized her elegance and beauty causing Eleanor to become even more resentful of Sally then before, not that she needed the admiration or influence of love-struck dolts, but just to feel like she had some form of apeal to herself. As for Sally on the other hand, although she politely accepted the admiration, she still envied Eleanor's independence, as well as sense of nobilitiy and admired her sister more than anyone else. Leota did however find a partner in the form of an attractive, wealthy man named Dorian Gracey who was attending the circus as he apparently had "business" to be done on his grandfather's behalf with the owners. Over time Dorian and Eleanor began to fall for one another more and more, something which Eleanor kept secret for Sally as she didn't want to seem petty and wanted to keep up appearances. Leota wound up moving out of the circus and into Dorian's home as a live-in clairvoyant, something which Sally was proud of her sister for despite feeling abandoned by the only family which she had ever had. Several months later, the circus returned to New Orleans from it's tour and Sally decided to take time off to go and visit her sister at Gracey Manor only to discover that not only was she living in comfort, but she was pregnant. Leota refused to tell Sally who the child's father was but Sally was overjoyed for her none the less. Dorian Gracey who was now the Master of the house, insisted that Sally stay in Gracey Manor for some time as he believed it would be good for Leota to have a childhood friend with her to help support her through her pregnancy. As the months passed by and Leota's pregnancy carried forward, Leota's body began to become weaker and less appealing to Dorian who's incessant lust caused his eyed to fall upon the beautiful Sally Slater. Sally, who didn't know that Eleanor and Dorian were lovers, chose to accept Dorian's advances, not because he was handsome or wealthy or powerful as she had gotten romanced by many a man in her lifetime as a performer, but Sally allowed him to romance her as she thought it would bring her and Eleanor closer together and that they could live together like a real family. Upon learning of their relationship via her crystal ball, Leota fell into a jealous rage directed towards Dorian which he deflected by telling her that it was to keep up appearances and that he would need to publicly marry someone someday and it could never have been Leota. Although enraged and heartbroken, Leota chose to power through the agony and pain and keep it on the inside, never speaking of her disdain of the affair to Sally herself who would often gossip with Leota about her romantic esplanades with Master Gracey. By the time that Leota had delivered her child, a girl which Dorian insisted they name Lillian after his late-mother, Sally and Dorian had become engaged to one another and were married with Leota choosing to not attend the wedding as it was too painful for her, something which devastated Sally as she only went through with the marriage to be with her sister. That night a grand party was held in the Great Hall to celebrate the marriage and although she did not attend, Leota did watch from the balcony, and when she saw the way that Dorian looked at Sally she completely snapped and decided that she was sick and tired of living in Sally's shadow. So she went to her Séance Chamber and started the conducting her spells in preparation for her plan the following day. The next morning, Eleanor confronted Sally and told her that even though she didn't attend her wedding she is truly glad for her mariage and that she is looking forwards to lliving with her. As a celebtration and for old times sake, Eleanor asked Sally if she could put on a tightrope walking performance for the family in the swampland area found in the glade behind the mansion, and Sally eagerly agreed. Down in the swamp, Sally was happily balancing on her tightrope over the waters of the Whispering Glade when she noticed Eleanor muttering something strange under her breathe. Suddenly the rope which Sally was standing on started to snap and wither away at her feet, Sally tried to smile through her fear and scuttle across the rope to safety but the more she seemed to move the more that the rope wore away. Sally then considered just jumping into the water and swimming so safety when she noticed something large moving in the waters below her, she quickly looked away as she didn't want to focus on it and instead focus on walking off of the tightrope to safety. However all at once the rope snapped underneith of her and to the horror of the crowd Sally fell into the jaws of a large aligator which violently dragged her screaming down into the depths of the water, a few bubbles of air emerged from the water's surface, and then the blue creek started to turn red, and just like that, Madame Leota no longer had to envy Sally Slater. '''The Hellhound Name: Hellhound ' Hellhound was the name given to Dorian Gracey's childhood pet Great Dane with the dog having been the last gift his father Walt ever gave to him before his untimely demise. Hellhound was a powerful and vicious hunting dog which Dorian trained and well. In Hellhound's old age he was so grey and so skeletal that one could mistake the beast for having been the corpse of a wolf, but despite this Hellhound was as strong and vicious as ever. In those later years Hellhound typically patrolled the house's grounds making sure that the girl Lillian who lived in the mansion, could not leave without permission as Dorian feared that if she were to leave the Manor's grounds that certain secrets regarding his personal life might come forward. Hellhound finally died after Master Gracey had ordered himself to be buried alive in order to rest in peace, and Hellhound chose not to eat or drink until his master returned, causing the dog to die alone in the public cemetery while howling out for his master's return, and some who travelled by the mansion claim that they still hear the howling echoing through the mansion's grounds. 'Francis Xavier Name: Captain Francis Atencio Xavier Francis Xavier was the adopted son and apprentice of Captain Martin Xavier, a Spanish pirate captain who operated off of Baratia Bay under the name "El Barba Blanca". Francis was raised to be a cutthroat, scheming pirate but to still be noble and polite to others as he was taught that chances are they are going to kill their bystanders eventually so you might as well make it up to them through being nice. In the early 19th century, Martin died and left his money and ship to Francis who chose to use them in order to fight in the last battle of the War of 1812 in exchange for a pardon from the US Government. After the battle, Francis almost immediately chose to return to a life of crime but the Battle of New Orleans cost heavy tolls upon his money leaving him with nothing more then his ship "El Mariposa". So for funding, Francis found himself seeking out a former comrade of his father's, a French pirate captain who was once renowned for his violence, sadism, brutality and love of torture, a man who now called himself Captain Marc Gracey. Inititally although Marc was glad to see Francis and gave him his condolensces for the loss of his father, Marc refused to partake in any more active crimes as he was living out a happy and prosperous life off of his blood money. Marc's grandson Dorian however did see potential in making investments in the criminal enterprises as the recent change of government along with the sheer amount of criminals who were killed and pardoned in the Battle of New Orleans left the criminal underworld of New Orleans susceptable to the combined efforts of Xavier and the Graceys. So thus Dorian persuaded his grandfather into making a deal with the pirate by telling him that they family only had so much money and that if they didn't do work to make sure that wealth is maintained, that some day it will all be gone and the family's descendents will be left with nothing. Francis was given a considerable amount of money in order to hire a crew and supplies for his ship so that he could smuggle in unliscensed and illegal materials from the Caribbean and sell it to the Graceys who would then sell it to others at a higher price through their various connections. When police started investigating the smuggling operation, the Gracey's made considerable contributions to their payrolls in exchange for them to turn a relatively blind eye to the crimes. When he wasn't out at sea, Francis would stay with the Gracey Family in their Mansion where he was practically treated like a member of the family by them all. Francis even became Dorian Gracey's closest friend, and the two would often spend their nights together in places with in places with lots of rum and loose women that the two would try to court as flings. Despite their friendship, Francis tended to be somewhat afraid of Dorian as having spent his whole life surrounded by cutthroats and murderers, he recognized something dark in him, something hiding behind a facade of good manners and charm which was just waiting to break free. It wasn't that long of a time later that Marc Gracey died in his sleep and Dorian was named the new Master of the Gracey Clan so he was put in charge of doing business with Francis behind the scenes. It was also around this time that a Romani woman named Madame Leota moved into Gracey Manor, something done as according to Dorian she had legitimate dark powers which could advantage Francis and Dorian's secret pirate exploits. Over time the two became some of the most powerful crime-lords in all of New Orleans and avoided prosecution by paying off many of the city's police officers. 'Brother Claude' Name: Claudius Walther Gracey Claudius Gracey was the youngest son of Walther and Lillian Gracey. 'The Gracey Clan' Core Members: Dorian Yale Gracey, Marcus David Gracey, Claudius Walther Gracey, Captain Francis Atencio Xavier, Prof. Wathel Rogers Bender, Victor Gracey, Cameron Kimberly Irving , Julia Charlotte Shrub , Bradforde Clemente , Esteban Steven Pine , and Michael Dibjib . Other Members: 'Priscilla Gracey, Walther Roy Gracey, Lillian Marie Gracey, Myall Gracey PART II: House of the Dead 'The Ghostess Name: Lillian Priscilla Leota ''' '''Life: 1836-1865 Cause of Death: 'Drowning Lillian Leota was the daughter of Madame Leota and Master Gracey and the result of a secret affair which the two had been taking part in for quite some time. After Lillian's conception, Madame Leota claimed that the girl was the result of a virgin birth which she incited via potion in order to make sure noone suspected that she and Master Gracey had relations. While Master Gracey himself was a caring if not overprotective father, he refused to openly display fatherly affection towards her as to avoid suspicion, along with this he even refused for her to ever leave the Mansion's grounds unless with her mother as to be completely safe. As for Madame Leota, she was a cold and distant mother who tended to forget that Lillian even existed, she often even forgot her name tending to refer to her just as "Little Leota" as it was easier to remember. Due to this Lily was exiled from her own family and spent her whole life trapped in the prison that was the grounds of Gracey Manor, with no friends other than the two servants Beauregard and Eliza Anderson, along with a strange looking Raven with red eyes which her mother kept locked in a bird cage in the attic for some reason. Lillian related with the trapped creature which according to the cage was named "''Lucifer" and would often sneak it small animals which she would find in the glade for it to eat while telling it about her life and her family. One night, after having had a large fight with her father regarding being allowed to leave the Manor, Lillian chose to free the Raven from it's cage in an act of defiance. After being freed, the Raven acting out of either vengeance for being caged, or to avenge the only mortal which ever showed it kindness, chose to rummage through Madame Leota's personal belongings to search for the vial filled with the poison she gave Dorian to kill Marc Gracey. After the Raven located the poison, it flew to the nearest police station in the night and left it alongside a note it had scratched using it's claws dipped in ink, telling the police officers about the nature of how Dorian came into wealth. As predicted by the Raven, the police came to investigate Dorian Gracey and Mme. Leota for the murder of the crimelord who paid the police much more for protection than Dorian ever did while running the Gracey Smuggling empire. In court Dorian managed to use his wealth, influence and charm to pass the blame of the crime completely on Leota who was subsequently executed but cursed every man and woman in the Gracey Clan and Gracey bloodline to die of violent and painful deaths. Being still a girl and not yet a woman, Lillian was safe for the time from her mother's curse as Madame Leota most likely forgot that Lillian even existed when she cast the curse due to her distant and dismissive nature regarding her child. Due to the curse, Lillian spent her teenaged years in the Mansion surrounded by death as the Gracey Clan got picked off one by one resulting in her getting more time with her father. However while she liked getting to spend more time with her father, she also noticed that he was depressed and restless due to the tragedy of his life. So when Dorian asked Lillian to bury him alive and declare him dead, Lillian was distraught but also wanted him to rest in peace and she buried him willingly. Before his death, Dorian decided to leave the Gracey wealth and estate to Lillian who was his last living family member. With this, Lillian finally found herself free to leave the Mansion alone as she pleased but upon entering society she found that it was a cruel world filled with ignorant people who were too sane and self-absorbed for her to connect with. With the world that she dreamed of so often being a cruel dissapointment and her now being completely alone in the world, Lillian chose to try and achieve contentment by using the Gracey Fortune to surround herself in things which remind her of her late-family despite the toxicity which they held towards her. One of the items which she attempted to acquire was the caravan her mother had operated in during her time in the circus. After managing to locate the caravan to a weird antique store called "Port Royal Curios and Curiosities" she met the store's macabre, disfigured owner who was a man named Solomon Gastley. Strangely enough Solomon and Lillian quickly hit it off as they both related to being outcasted from society as well as their families and the two shared a similar morbid sense of dark humor and interest in the occult and gothic. After spending quite a bit with one another, Solomon wound up moving into Gracey Manor to live with Lillian and the two became romantic partners with Solomon decorating the mansion with his collection of macabre antiquities which he obtained for his business. The two cherished one another more than just about anything in the world and they loved hosting other wealthy and powerful indivisuals of New Orleans in their home as they relished seeing them disturbed and frightened by the manor's strange furnishing and bloody history. The two even would up permanently hosting Solomon's older brother Jamie who went broke after having lost all of his money due to the abolishment of slavery in America causing his cotton plantation to go bankrupt, nether Solomon nor Lillian were particularily fond of Jamie but they put up with him as he was family and he was suffering from alcoholism. After spending several years together and refusing to marry as neither of them believed in marriage, they eventually came to a point where they each wished to start a family with one another so they planned to have a grand and macabre wedding to one another as soon as Solomon returned from a business trip to visit his cousin in New York City. While Solomon was away and Lillian was in her boudoir preparing her white wedding cloak and dress as well arranging a bouquet of thorns and wedding flowers, Solomon's brother Jamie got into one of his drunken stupors and he attempted to make moves towards Lillian as he was envious of his younger brother's beautiful fiancée, luxurious mansion and large wealth. So Jamie made advances towards Lillian as in his drunkeness he wanted to stick it to his brother behind his back, Lillian however was faithful to her fiancée and rebuked his affections only for the enraged Jamie to pick up a candelabra and attacked Lillian by clubbing her on the back of the head, rendering her unconscious. Panicked, the drunk Jamie stuffed Lillian's body into a large chest and dragged it out into the flooded mausoleum in the Mansion's ajoining Cemetery. In the time it took for Jamie to haul the stuffed chest from the Boudoir to the Mausoleum however, Lillian awoke inside of the chest screaming at Jamie and telling him that he would suffer for what he's done which only panicked the intoxicated man more. Trying to get rid of the evience of his crime, Jamie dumped the chest and it's screaming inhabitant into the black waters of the mausoleum, planning on telling his brother that she got cold feet about the marriage and ran away. Lillian herself spent her last moments alive as the water started to pour into the chest, reassuring herself that her killer would suffer, that she would reunite with her love, and finally she pulled out a page that she copied from her mothers spellbook and read aloud the words, "Kree Kruh Vergo Gaba Kalto Kree" and then with tears in her eyed begged her mother for help. '''The Ghost Host Name: Solomon Hershel Gastley Life: 1835-1869 Cause of Death: 'Hanging Solomon Gastley was the youngest of two sons born to the wealthy Paul and Geraldine Gastley with Solomon having been born considerably ugly and somewhat disfigured with a skeletal frame, pale hair, mismatching eyes and generally ghoulish features as opposed to his handsome older brother Jamie. Due to this Solomon grew up as something of an outcast who prefered to spend his time alone reading about the macabre and strange as he felt that he was a kindred spirit with it. When Solomon was a teenager, both of his parents died in a mysterious fire that destroyed the family home, leaving the Gastley children to divide the family fortune amongst themselves and take their seperate ways. While Jamie left to open up a cotton plantation, Solomon chose to purchase a shop in New Orleans Square which he called "Port Royal Curios and Curiosities" which he filled with whatever strange relics he could find. One day Solomon was visited by his wealthy maternal cousin Harrison who himself was a collector of antiquities. After viewing the shop, Harrison chose to invite Solomon into a secret society of aristocrats which combined their connections and a portion of their wealth in order to help one another acquire treasures from across the world. Solomon agreed to join the society and after meeting the other members, Solomon's years of studying the strange seemed to impress the men who decided to put a special investment in Solomon's collection in order for him to open up a secret, society members only Museum underneith of his shop which would display the most unusual of antiquities. Solomon personally had difficulty standing the other young wealthy men as they all seemed contrived,ignorant shallow but Solomon decided to put up with them in order to gain the resources to advance his personal collection. Not too long after the society's investment, Solomon opened "La Musée de l'Étrange" underneith of his shop and he started filling it with the strange relics which the Society helped him acquire such as the remains of a man who was mummified alive in candle wax, a rare carnivorous plant which typically feeds off of large mammals, and a haunted grandfather clock created from a coffin and the skeletal remains of it's inhabitant, he even started doing direct trades with a mysterious Jivaroan man associated with the society who gave him fantastic deals on authentic shrunken heads. The only non-society members who were aware of the secret Museum were Solomon's two employees Amicus Arcane who cared for the building's books and Rosella Zarkov who was a psychic medium that provided assistance with the museum's more supernatural artifacts. At one auction, Solomon acquired a Romani Caravan which had previously belonged to the criminal and alleged witch, Madame Leota and which was fully stocked with potions, tomes, unusual relics, and a crystal ball. Not long after the auction, a young woman came to Solomon's shop asking to purchase the Leota collection from him at any price which he needed, with the woman saying that she wanted it as she was Mme. Leota's daughter. Solomon chose to willingly give the Caravan and most of it's contents to the woman after telling him that in exchange she would give him open access the the supposedly haunted Gracey Manor and it's accompanying cemetery in the glade behind the manor. Over time Solomon and the woman (whose name was Lillian Leota) started to see kindred spirits in one another after open exposure from Solomon loving the derelicte Gracey Manor, and Lillian adoring the delightfully macabre aura found within Solomon's shop. The two recognized one another as outcasts from the stale and contrived society that they lived in, they shared a love of dark humour, gothic style and general disdain for the pathetic and self-absorbed material people they found themselves surrounded by. Solomon moved into Gracey Manor to be with Lillian and together they started using his connections to fill their home with the surreal antiques which he would have typically purchased to be displayed in his museum, such antiques included two oddly designed suits of armour which two knight brothers had died in, a library's worth of priceless first edition books (only ghost stories of course), an armchair designed by a madman who hid a dead body inside of it, a demonic 13 hour grandfather clock, and a Pipe Organ which was discovered in a mysterious shipwreck. The couple even enjoyed inviting the other aritocrats who they tended to loathe into their home so that they could play Host and relish in watching their discomfort as they came upon the diferent morbid furnishings of the manor and learned of the estate's bloody past. It was also around this time that Solomon's now alcoholic brother Jamie moved into Gracey Manor as he recently went bankrupt, neither Solomon nor Lillian enjoyed Jamie's presence but they let him stay as he was family and he was having drinking problems. Although Solomon and Lillian lived together for several years, they refused to get married as they believed marriage was nothing more than a dated christian ritual, although after spending years in love together Solomon and Lillian realized that they truly did want to marry one another and maybe even start a family, after all there weren't enough of people in the world who thought the way that they did. So Solomon and Lillian arranged to be married as soon as Solomon returned from a business trip to New York where he was to attend a Society meeting in his cousin Harrison's home. Solomon soon found himself returning home to New Orleans, the meeting had been about something the Society's president called the Discovery Bay Project but which very few of the Society's members including Solomon had any interest in seeing through. When Solomon returned home he was met by a phased out Jamie who told that Lillian got cold feet about the wedding and decided to flee the mansion in the night, having only told Jamie about her plans. Although stunned by the news it made no sense to Solomon as it seemed terrifically out of character for her along with the fact that Gracey Manor was technically owned by her so it seemed horribly unlikely. So the sly witted Solomon decided to play into Jamie's story and told him that he was heartbroken and needed to get a drink, asking Jamie to join him. That evening Solomon served Jamie several glasses of wine while drinking none himself but pretended to be intoxicated and heartbroken in order to play his older brother in order to learn the truth about his fiancée's whereabouts. 'The Hitchhiking Ghosts Names: Prof. Phineas Queeg, Ezra Dobbins, and Gus 'The Traveller' The self proclaimed "Professor" Phineas Queeg was a travelling snake oil salesman from Arizona. 'The Skeleton' 'The Prisoner' Augustus Candido was the illegitimate child of a beautiful pet-store owner named Marie Candido and a wealthy man who had an affair with her only to be murdered not long before Augustus' birth. 'The Coffin Occupant' Name: Jamie Padgett Gastley ' 'The Staring Busts Names:' Lucius and Lucretia Gastley' 'The Macabre Guests' Associated Names: Theo Later, Dustin T. Dust, U.R. Gone, Levi Tation, Ray N. Carnation, I.M. Mortal, I. Trudy Departed, Rustin Peece, I.L. Beback, and M.T. Tomb ' 'The Servants The Head Butler: Beauregard Kenneth Anderson The Head Maid: Eliza Dorothy Anderson 'The Ambassador' Name: Ambassador Alexander Nitrokoff PART III: Nuptial Doom 'The Groom' Name: George Richard Hightower ' 'The Black Widow Bride Name: Constance Emily Hatchaway ''' '''Life: 1851-1928 'The Organist' Name: Herr Gaylord Ravenscroft ' 'The Waltzing Dead 'The Hearse Driver' Name: Brigham Rickards ' 'The Hatbox Ghost Name: Hatcher Thomas Bloodmere ''' '''Life: 1851-1877 'The Quicksand Men' Name's: Charles Hobbs Sr. Sr., Charles Hobbs Sr. Jr., and Charles Hobbs Jr. Jr.' 'The Caretaker' Name:[[Caretaker| Silas Roland Crump]]' ' 'Other Residents of the Mansion' Historic Residents: *Gaius Julius Caesar: *Prince Edward of Woodstock: *Jack the Ripper: *Father Grigori Rasputin: *Nero : *Henry VIII: *Anne Boleyn: *Ivan IV Vasilyevich: *Guy Fawkes: Literary/Folkloric Residents: *Medusa: *Count Vladislav III Dracula: *The Crew of the Flying Dutchman: *The Phantom Band of Tedworth: *Bluebeard and his Seven Wives: *Pluto the Black Cat: *The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow: *J. Thaddeus Toad: *The Lady of Raynham Hall: Pre-Mortem Residents: *Theodore Mello and the Mellomen: *Eleazar Pickwick: *Etienne Silex and Antione d'Acier: *Victoria Abigail Boufont: *The Tea Party: *Erik le Reeves and Christine Loulie-Jean de Chanteuse: *Captain Culpepper Clyne *Webster Cobb: *Harry Fortuno: *Mina: Post-Mortem Residents: *Sir Gawain of Lot and Billy: *Ms. April June December : *The Witch of Walpurgis: *Felicia LaTigre: *The Dread Family: *Granny Ghoul: *Hazel, Mugwort and Wormwood: Category:Blog posts